Each year for some time the music department at the University of California Davis invited a well-known musician to lecture for a term on material of his own choice. John Cage accepted such an appointment for Fall, 1969. In addition to his class, John Cage scheduled a one-day musical exposition for November 21, 1969, centering around the music of Erik Satie. It was to be called Godamusicday, a title which, because of a university policy banning obscene language, was ultimately rejected. Undaunted, Cage wryly changed the name to MEWANTEMOOSIECDAY Several events took place during this day: an 18-hour performance of the Vexations by Erik Satie, performed 840 times, a performance of Cage's new piece 33 1/3 , a lecture by John Cage, performances of the University orchestra and band, film presentations etc. What you hear for the first 30 minutes is a performance by a chamber orchestra of Satie's "Furniture Music" repeated many times. In the background are continuous performances of various pieces by John Cage playing simultaneously. Midway the venue changes to a private performance by Milton and Peggy Salkind of Cage's 2 piano version of Satie's "Socrate". At times, its a bit hard to figure out what is going on.
Notes
All Other Minds programs available, with additional print and photo materials, at http://www.radiOM.org.